Gombe uncovers 2,557 secret accounts

• accuses past government of reckless spending

Gombe state Governor Inuwa Yahaya Thursday announced the discovery of 2557 accounts linked to the state government, just as he accused the immediate past government in the state of financial recklessness and lack of accountability.

Declaring open a one-day workshop on Treasury Single Account, TSA on Cash Management Strategy for Chief Accounting and Paying Officers and Heads of MDAs/Higher institutions in the state, Yahaya said the discovery showed the enormity of the financial indiscipline and opacity inherited by his administration.

“The exercise has no doubt recorded tremendous successes. A total of 2,292 accounts linked to the state government were captured by the NIBSS and additional 265 hidden accounts were discovered. The sum of N1.48 billion was discovered from 860 accounts that were hitherto dormant or undisclosed. 586 dormant accounts were closed after generating their annual account statements for proper reconciliation and documentation. This shows the enormity of the financial indiscipline and opacity inherited by our administration,” he said.

According to the Governor, with the present situation, the state has no option but to either reform or perish.

“It is either we reform or we perish; Gombe state gets about N3.5 Billion as statutory allocation. We are hovering between N200Mto N400 million internally generated revenue. The water board alone on the average is taking about N400M monthly. N1.35B goes to the civil service, who are only about 67,000 in the state out of the population of merely 3.5m people.

He said the workshop is aimed at equipping the accounting and paying officers and chief executives of tertiary institutions with the relevant skills and techniques in order to meet the demands of the new TSA regime adding that the state government TSA policy is geared towards the promotion of sound financial discipline and entrenching a culture of accountability and transparency in governance.

“It is worthy of note that on our coming to office on May 2019, we met the State finances in a delicate situation, characterized by high debt burden, wastefulness and lack of accountability. Since then, our administration has taken bold and calculated decisions towards putting the State on the path of financial prudence and accountability. The introduction and enforcement of the State Treasury Single Account (TSA) is one of them. In order to ensure successful implementation of the TSA, we set up a standing committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Governor. I also signed an Executive Order No. 005 of 2020 to further strengthen the implementation and enforcement of the TSA,” he said.

The Governor stated further that in order to further foster efficient management of cash resources; he also approved the Cash Management Strategy.

This according to him will help enhance budget performance by preventing costly budget overruns that negatively affect the implementation of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

“Our administration does not see budget as mere figures, but as a tool of governance where expenditure must be carefully planned and backed by revenue, allowing us to meet our budget expectations.

“There will be no development without the requisite resources to help implement our development agenda. That is why our administration is focused on mobilizing resources to finance the execution of projects and programs that will impact positively on the lives of our people. The implementation of the Treasury Single Account is the first step towards achieving this. There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to devastating economic consequences globally. To navigate this, States must develop innovative ways of saving cost, improving efficiencies and eliminating wastage.

This requires the highest level of competence and professionalism from our accounting officers. It is my hope that this workshop will arm you with the required skills and strategies to ensure prudent and transparent management of state resources,” he said.

He explained further that the workshop is designed to bring all the relevant stakeholders on board the new TSA policy adding that the participants are carefully chosen, comprising key accounting and paying officers from all MDAs as well as our tertiary institutions.

“The success of the TSA depends on your ability and willingness to buy in to the new policy. I call on the participants to fully participate in the workshop and gain the necessary insights and experience to make this policy a huge success. We will not tolerate any act of negligence, indiscipline or sabotage from anyone no matter how highly placed.

On part of government, Yahaya said “we are determined to continue implementing policies that strengthen our institutions and promote the wellbeing of our people. Be rest assured that my administration will continue to provide the required support to build the capacity of our civil service in order to enable it meet the demands of 21st century governance.”